Howdy!
It’s never what you do, but how you do it that counts. Always and forever.
To steal from Maya Angelou: You will always forget what you said and what you did, but you will never forget how you felt.
With your values, or uneasily against?
Filled with presence and steadiness, or rushing and stressing?
Finding satisfaction in the journey, or because you want to get to the end, because, “I’ll be happy when …?”
You always have a choice. Learn to make it more and more consistently, and enjoy.
Because what else would you like your life to be filled with?
As someone once said rightly, “We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time”.
I like that.
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Quote that seems right today
“You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
There’s an idea that spiritual life involves “doing nothing” – and certainly, regular times where you stop and do nothing are precious, revitalising, clarifying.
But as a way of life, when you do nothing nothing gets done.
Part of my old hesitation to act, and I’d say for many people, is wanting to do the right thing.
Yet in this you easily fail into a trap and over-think, you get tied up, you stutter and never find your groove in truly living.
That quote about jumping and finding your wings on the way down is very apt.
So jump. As long as you have a good heart and are willing to be shown, you can’t go wrong.
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Courses/Talks
Evening Mindfulness workshop
While online convenience is great, in-person connection is invaluable. I did a workshop this weekend, and it was a big reminder of the power of being with people – the live experience is incredibly richer.
So! Join me for a 90-minute meditation/mindfulness workshop: tools, insights, and a reminder of vibrant living, in a beautiful space with wonderful people.
Thursday, May 1st, 7:30-9 pm at Physio42’s Pear Tree Studio, Richmond, North Yorkshire. £10.
Reply/message me for booking details – it would be great to have you!
Ascension Courses
Ascension is a simple, sweet and yet powerful path to transformation, transcending limitations, self-criticism and self-doubt back to your authentic self.
Come along: it's always free to repeat, and will make a huge difference in your life.
April 25-27 (all bedrooms are booked, but seats available)
July 4-6
(All courses run Fri 7-9:30 pm, Sat/Sun 10 am-4:30 pm).
Contact me for details!
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And To Finish –
The Slightly Longer Read
I’ve been teaching about innocence a lot the last few weeks. I think it solves a ton of problems, it’s one of the keys to the Good life, so I dug out what I put down a few years ago in my book, “200% – An Instruction Manual for Living Fully”.
Let me know what landed for you? What didn’t? I’d love to know.
Innocence
The whole world expects you to have an opinion, to be a part of something. “What do you believe in? Is this right? Is this wrong?”
When the whole world wants to divide and define according to belief and judgement, it is a pretty radical act to empty yourself and just be open, willing to understand and decide in the exact moment you need to understand and decide.
When the whole world wants you to stand for something, becoming Zero and rejoicing in the experience that there is no suffering now, that there is no problem in Presence, it all becomes clear:
You aren’t your opinions, your beliefs, your culture. You aren’t how you voted, your job, your possessions, what you have or haven’t done. You aren’t your dreams, you aren’t your plans, you aren’t your ideals.
You have these things, but they are not you.
If you think you are these things, then you also see others as these things. How can you connect with anyone purely, as they are? How can you truly understand anything when such prejudice clouds every interaction, every decision? How can you meet the exact needs of this moment – which is life itself?
You can’t – not with these filters in play.
The only way to live cleanly is to drop all your beliefs, your expectations, your demands, your insistences. Then you can truly, truly be effective and filled with joy.
I’m not saying you give up your preferences and your passions. I’m not saying you don’t care – but you care about reality, you flow with the clarity of what is rather than what your prejudiced mind, full of belief and opinion, says you should be.
Innocence is what we’re talking about here. When you give the small you away, when you become Zero, you remember absolute innocence.
Innocence is not needing or resisting anything, but embracing everything that comes – it’s the purest surrender and acceptance.
In innocence there is nothing left that is selfish or self-absorbed. Along with the loss of the limited mind comes losing the perspective of lack – the half-empty glass, and the resulting need to protect.
Instead, you live from a perspective of fullness, of abundance, of potential. Actually, the only perspective is fullness; no other possibility exists. You live superbly because you realise you never actually needed anything.
In innocence, you forget the demands that you place on yourself. You forget your ideas that you need to become something different and, in doing so, you forget the demands you place on everyone else.
There comes a fascination with what is, not with what you think should be. You expect nothing and celebrate everything.
In every interaction innocence is a great gift. Not assuming, not taking positions, just willing and wanting to interact and relate exactly to the person and not to your idea or agenda.
When you put down your masks and assumptions, you give everyone the freedom to do the same. You give everyone the space to be who they really are.
You can truly understand, you can truly see, you can truly act. You can truly transcend all suffering, the pain that comes from your own mind. You can truly make a difference: a force for unity, a force for purity of heart, mind, body and soul.
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That’s all for me. Let me know how I can help.
Go well!
Arjuna